Early last year our 2001 Ford Expedition XLT started exhibiting some very unique problems during or after a rain. 1. upon initial turn on, gauges peak and then recede (persistent problem now). 2. windshield wipers quit working and then after some time begin working again. 3. ditto for the radio. 4. after parking the car after a rain or even quite a while later, the engine will attempt to start without a key in the ignition. This problem is random and will occur for quite some time after a rain. any time we park the vehicle in the garage we disconnect the enable wire to the start relay. *even with this action the battery is still being drained rather rapid for after just a few days of not driving, the battery shows obvious sign of fatigue when attempt to start the car.

After reading numerous similar articles in this complaint forum one can only surmise that our problem is related to the same source as most of the ones here. The windshield is leaking water, the gem is defective, the fuse box is corroded. Please advise as to what we can do in order to get Ford on this problem. Alecia Warner Robins GA

My truck whenever it rained would go berserk. The wiper fluid lights and the 4x4 lights would start flashing off and on, the seatbelt signal would start beeping and the car would turn the radio off and on. This only occured during or after a rain. We checked and eliminated other problems and as a last resort replaced the windshield. The windshield did not have any visible cracks or problems with the stripping, yet after it was replaced, COMPLETELY stopped the problem.

Update from Oct 8, 2009: The new windshield solved the problem for a few months but now the problem is back. Not sure what to do this time since I can't keep replacing windshield.

The first time this happened I didn't know what to think. I got up one morning to go to work and my expedition had a dead battery. I hooked up my charger to it and as soon as it got power my heater fan was on. It ran all night and ran my battery down. I shut it off and I charged my vehicle. I didn't think much that is was raining the night before and that my windshield had a leak that would cause my GEM Module to short out and cause these problems. Ford Has a problem with these vehicles with the windshield leaking on the seal and water going down inside the "A" frame and into the GEM Module. You can't see this water leak so you will not be able to tell but you can take my word for it. A lot of them were in the dealership getting this fixed when i took mine in.

Starting in the winter of 2005 I began to have problems with the odd electrical problem here and there, brake shift interlock, blower motor and radio. There one day ond gone within a few minutes. I put it off to the bitterly cold weather we had in early December.

March 1st I went out to go to work and when I got in the SUV the blower motor was on and the overhead console was lit up as well as the compass. When I started the Expedition it ran fine, but the further I drove the stranger it became. Swiching into 4WD by itself, front wipers coming on by themselves, idiot lights all over the dash flashing randomly and the dashboard beeping to me in a sick satanic mixture of beeps and chimes. Dealership said no cure for the water leak that Ford has said is the problem. Either I get it fixed or I have a 6,700 pound doorstop parked in my driveway. I have emailed Ford directly with no response yet. I love my Expedition as does the rest of my family. An ongoing problem like this that affects as many different vehicles as Ford says it does, should be covered by Ford under a recall. Yes there are quite a few vehicles out there with this problem, but fix it before it does get to the state of mine. Up until this point I had high respect for Ford, it is dwindling fast.